Say The Line Again
by Cracked Plastic Crown
Summary: Leon and Cloud are rehearsing a play. Axel is snoozing in the seats and love is on stage. Set AU, main pairing of LeonxCloud.


**Author's Notes:** Yeah...I was bored...And listening to Roxette – 'It Must Have Been Love' at the time...

**Disclaimers:** I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.

**Story Notes:** AU setting, lots of slash pairings, typical totally randomness r3 style. Mainly a LeonxCloud fic, with one of my other favourite pairings thrown in along the way! Don't like slash? Don't read.

**Say The Line Again Please**

"But you don't understand," said Leon, his voice soft and pleading. "It went away, I lost it somewhere, perhaps it was that day when you lied to me..."

Cloud narrowed blue eyes upon the brunet, advancing towards him. Arms hung at his sides, yet he gave off a threatening appearance as if he were towering over the other. "I never lied to you. I have never lied to you, ever. How can you say such things and toss them over your shoulder as if there was nothing there between us?"

He was standing so close that their bodies were almost touching, the brunet barely taller than the spiky haired blond, yet he felt so small compared to this feeling the other was giving off. He wanted to cower away, but refused to allow himself to slip from the sturdy stance he had. His feet were planted firmly, there was no backing down for either of them. Eyes were locked in an intense battle. "Its gone. I truly am sorry for all the trouble I caused you..."

"Shut up and kiss already!" came a shout from the audience, causing the pair to back away from each other and turn their focus upon the one that had broken their attention. "What?"

"Sora, that's not how it goes!" cried a young, dark haired girl, bounding over the red cushioned seats of the stage hall, heading straight for the one that had completely ruined the scene the pair were practising on the stage at the front of the vast hall. She climbed over the last row of chairs and with a rolled up script, hit the spiky brunet over the head with it. "Cloud has to read out the huge monologue, then there's the new lover's scene. There's kissing in that part, your royal interrupter-ness, if you really want kissing."

Sora whined softly, rubbing his head. "Sorry Yuffie..." he whimper to her, bright blue eyes looking up at her from under soft lashes, giving the female a look of a scorned puppy.

"Are we done today?" Cloud asked, sitting himself down on the only stage prop there was; a lone wooden chair. "Because if you want to rehearse the new lover, you'll have to wake Axel up. He's sleeping in the back row" Head motioned towards the part of the hall where a certain red headed male was slumped on one of the seats, his long slender legs propped up on the back of the chair infront of him. Arms were folded upon his chest, and from where everyone else was in the stage hall, it was quite obvious he was sleeping quite peacefully. "And make sure he's had a breath mint or something, because I'm not kissing that smoker again"

"Don't you like the taste of a smoker's kiss?" Leon asked smugly, folding his arms loosely across his chest as he stood beside his co-actor. Yuffie and Aerith had written themselves a play, and wanted their friends to act it out for them. For some reason; Leon and Cloud had acquired themselves the lead parts.

Cloud chuckled. "That, and he's a bad kisser."

There was a cry from behind the stage. "He is not!" came a shout, and one of the sandbags that held up the main curtain came crashing down near where the blond was sitting, causing him to jump slightly. "Is not, is not, is not!"

Even Leon had been shocked at the sudden entrance of the large sandbag and had nearly lost his composure. Sighing gently and giving a shake of his head, a hand lifted to press against his forehead. "Cloud...You've upset him now..."

There was a bright and cheerful grin on the spiky blond's face, as if he knew exactly what he had done. Glancing over his shoulder to the curtained-off area, he shouted his apology. "Sorry Roxas. Must just be the all the cigarettes he smokes putting me off! Anyway, I don't kiss him on a regular basis, so I don't know if he's useless on purpose or not."

"Cloud..." Leon hissed warningly. He didn't want another sandbag to come crashing down on them, only this time Roxas' aim wouldn't be off and he would probably end up carrying an unconscious Cloud from the drama building to the university dorm the pair shared.

Cloud was a wonderful person, he had a life energy within him that he allowed out from time to time, yet when the moment called, he was pure and serene. He was a perfect balance of all the things Leon tried to search for within a person. But this was Cloud; his room mate and friend. What they had he didn't want to ruin. It felt too good a thing to ruin by trying to take things further.

It seemed that this play was the only way he was going to acquire that sense of Cloud he longed for.

He didn't even know the other's feelings. Cloud just didn't seem to settle with a partner. In his recollection, Aerith was the longest form of relationship that the spiky haired blond had ever seemed to have had. It had simply ended. One minute they were dating, the next they were friends and the brunette wanted him to act in her play.

They were both drama students anyway. How could they say no?

And so, for at least a month now, the group had been rehearsing this play entitled 'Dream Awake'. It was about the trials and tribulations of two males and how they fall in and out of love with one another and other people. Leon had the role of the one who claimed to fall out of love the most, yet inside was deeply scared of commitment, while Cloud's character seemed to simply crave attention, but was never fully satisfied with the attention he currently had because he was always searching for attention that only Leon's character could give him.

Where did the girls cook up these freaks?

Their current scene involved Leon telling Cloud for the first time that he didn't feel the same for him. Apparently it was a total lie and he was merely scared of their relationship evolving and so was getting out by making excuses. Cloud's character would end up feeling distraught and find comfort within the arms of Axel's character.

Grey-blue eyes scanned over the words written on the script before him while Cloud apologised again to Roxas and Yuffie went to awake the sleeping Axel. Again, he wondered where Aerith and Yuffie had thought up the characters.

"Right, since Sora so rudely interrupted such a wonderful scene between Leander and Neil, and Axel is too sleepy to play Eight in any kind of worthwhile detail, I think we'll call it quits for today," announced Yuffie, standing on one of the seats and looking around to make sure she had the attention of all that had attended that late afternoon.

Aerith clapped her hands together and smiled, rising from her seat and continuing to applaud the performance that had been given. "You were all wonderful," she said sweetly. "I do hope to see you all again tomorrow for our next rehearsal."

Yuffie glared at Axel, who was now somewhat awake; enough to grin smugly at her. "And you all better be awake too!" she warned. "Or you'll all be in serious trouble"

Axel saluted to the young girl as he stood up, making his way towards the stage. "Awake? I suppose I can do that. I've got it memorized"

"You better!" chided Yuffie, hands planted firmly on her hips. "Or else!"

There was a snigger from the red head that both Leon and Cloud heard as he came on stage. Roxas quickly shot out from behind the dark red velvet curtains and straight into his open arms, nuzzling against his chest. As Axel leaned down, Leon could of sworn he had muttered something about something being all Roxas' fault, and the blond teen blushed, rubbing his head into Axel's warm black hoodie.

"They make a cute couple, don't they?"

"Hmm?" Leon quickly looked to his side where Cloud was still sitting. "Don't you feel over protective of him though, being the older brother?"

Cloud shrugged. "He can make his own choices. Nothing I can say will change how Roxas feels about Axel."

"But what if Axel does something to hurt him?" Leon asked, watching as the pair left the stage, settled comfortably in that couply way of walking, with Roxas holding onto Axel's hand tightly, his arm linked, the other curled around the arm he was holding, as if he wanted to be as close as possible to the older male.

There was an evil smirk on the spiky blond's face. "Then I beat him up so bad that his own mother won't be able to recognise him"

Leon laughed softly. "They do make a cute couple though; they both make one another happy." He looked around the hall, watching as the other's began leaving too until it was just Cloud and himself left within the large hall. It seemed even bigger without the small drama group filling it with their chatter. Without thinking, Leon moved a little closer towards Cloud, wanting to be away from the dark and foreboding shadows that clung to the edges of the room.

"Do you ever wish you had a relationship like that?" Cloud asked, his own blue eyes looking up at the brunet curiously. He'd noticed the instinctive movement the other had made, but was not going to press him on it. The stage hall was a rather scary place to be alone in, especially as it was growing even darker outside and there were few lights on within the hall itself. Even the stage lights had been dimmed.

"Huh?" Leon was shocked at the question, quickly changing his focus back to his co-actor. "A cute, cuddly relationship where if anyone says something I disagree about to do with my significant other I'll drop a bag of sand on them?"

There was a bright smile on Cloud's lips. "Yeah, something along those lines."

"No."

"Oh..."

"Why do you ask?"

"Because thats the kind of relationship that I think Neil wants. I talked with Aerith the other day, about why they made the characters the way they are, and Neil wants a relationship where he'd drop a sandbag on someone's head for simply thinking something he thought wasn't true about the man he loved" Cloud explained, easily hiding the hurt in his voice at Leon's quick response to his question. He wanted to be able to nuzzle his face into the Leon's chest the way his younger brother did with Axel. He wanted to be a part of Leon's life in a way that was more than friendship that it made his heart ache.

Leon chuckled, rolling his eyes before he sat himself down on the stage. One leg stretched out infront of him, the other bent at the knee and he slung an arm over it. "Taking your role seriously then?"

"Aren't you?"

"Leander is a cold and heartless bastard that can't see past the end of his nose. He loves Neil; but would rather hurt him than admit to his own feelings," Leon replied, glancing up towards the other. "Why someone like Neil would go for a guy like him is beyond me"

Cloud scoffed. "And Eight is better? He's too absorbed in his self image to notice that he's a complete and total jerk. More than Leander!"

"Why don't we act it then?"

"What?" Cloud stared up at his friend, unsure of what he meant.

Placing the script on the floor, Leon pushed himself up onto his feet. Dusting off the dirt from his leather pants, he moved to stand infront of Cloud, grey-blue gaze settling firm upon the blond. "The scene where Neil has chased Leander in the pouring rain because Leander caught Neil with Eight in bed. We'll see if Leander is a jerk or not better if we act it. Completely in character"

Cloud didn't fully understand where Leon was going with it, but they needed to rehearse anyway, so he might as well go along with it. Rising from the chair, he scanned through the lines he needed to know before setting the script down and looking at his companion, awaiting him to start.

Leon cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair while he composed himself. "Eight...? Of all the people in the world for you to go off with, you went with him!?"

"Leander..." whispered Cloud. "Its not like that..."

There was a scoff, arms folding firmly across his chest. He was turned to go, but remained to glare at 'Neil'. "Not like that!? Had I been at least five minutes later you wouldn't even be wearing any pants! How can it be 'not like that' when you were ready to give him everything you promised you'd give to me?"

Cloud swallowed the lump in his throat. Leon always managed to make Leander seem to real. This was the part where he was supposed to be chocked up, stray tears falling from his eyes. Leon made it seem like Cloud had actually cheated, and the tears prickled at his eyes. "I thought you didn't care about something like that..." he muttered sadly, looking down at his feet.

Leon rolled his eyes. "Now look at you, you're crying," his voice softened and he stepped closer ever so slightly. "Look, Neil...Eight only cares about his image. Your just a fashion accessory to him, nothing more. True and deep love is not something he's capable of. Don't you see that?"

Head lifted quickly so that Cloud could glare at his co-actor, snarling at him. "And you are!? You said it yourself Leander...You lost your feelings for me! You said you might of loved me, but you were never sure!" Tears were falling from his blue eyes, and he fell to his knees. Just like the script had said; yet there was an emotion he was feeling that made him want to break down. "My heart aches for you Leander, I want someone to hold me, someone to say he'd always be mine. I don't want someone that forgets how to love me. I don't want to be ignored!"

"I never stopped loving you..." Leon said softly, placing a hand lightly upon Cloud's. "You're a perfect part of my world; you make my world perfect, Neil. Without you, I was far from complete. I cannot sleep knowing your body is so close and yet so far. Your all that I want..." He knelt down infront of Cloud, moving his hand from shoulder to the underside of his chin, tilting his head upwards. "I want to know if you taste as good as you look..."

Eyes heavy lidded, his mind searching for his lines, blue eyes flew open when Leon's line fell into place. "That's not in the script!"

"You're perfect...Cloud...You're beautiful, and thoughtful. I never know how to say these things to you, I'm scared of breaking what we have. You don't have an older brother to break my face if I ever hurt you,"

Cloud smiled softly, leaning into the hand that now rested upon his cheek. "No I don't. But it doesn't mean I can't do it myself. There's a line I want to say to you again" Leon raised a brow slightly, but nodded, allowing Cloud to say what he wished. "My heart aches for you," he whispered, leaning towards the other until the pair met, lips touching in a soft, sweet kiss.

Pulling back, Leon blushed slightly. It was only short kiss; merely a meeting of the lips, but it had felt so powerful to him. He had never expected a kiss such as that to hold such a force over him.

He wanted more.

"Say the line again" came the hushed request, Leon leaning in this time, wanting more of those amazingly powerful kisses that only Cloud could give to him.

"My heart..." distance was close, Cloud tilting his head this time for an open mouthed kiss. "...Aches..." Closer. Closer. His could feel Leon's breath against his own lips. It was so warm. "...For..." Lids slipped down over his eyes. There was barely a breaths width apart now. "...You."

Lips met, only this time it continued, the soft, sweet kiss turning into something more. Passion ignited, setting the kiss and their bodies alight. Cloud was pushed onto his back on the stage, Leon moving over him, never once breaking the contact they had, tongues joining the fray as Leon sought to take complete claim over the blond's mouth. There was hands in his brown locks, fisting the strands as slender digits massaged his scalp. Legs straddled Cloud's hips, pinning him completely to the floor.

Then the kiss broke leaving the pair panting and gasping for breath. Cloud gulped down air, blue eyes looking upon his friend. They were doing something that he'd only ever dreamt of, but never had his dreams been this good. "Leon..." he panted, smoothing a hand over Leon's hair, the other resting on said male's hip. "I never knew you felt this way about me...Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because we had such a wonderful friendship," he admitted. "I didn't want to change it"

Cloud smiled, lifting his head up to give Leon a quick peck on the lips. "Your such a totally cutie," he said with a grin.

"Don't start..."

"I'm not!"

Leon rolled his eyes. "Whatever..."

- - - - -

**Author's Notes**: Like I said...Totally random...

Now I shall dodge the barrage of rotten fruit from my readers of Nobodies Loveletter since they most likely would have had me use this boredom energy to write Chapter Twelve...

-ducks and runs away leaving a sign in her dust-

Sign: Show your love. Leave a review!


End file.
